Video

Yesterday was an emotional and historic day as the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) named the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) unconstitutional. However, they refused to write broader language around same-sex marriage that would affect all states in addition to the handful of states that had already legalized same-marriage. SCOTUS didn’t address the 30 states that banned domestic partnerships, civil unions and/or same-sex marriage in their state constitutions, including North Carolina and the codification of Amendment One. Additionally, in the 48 hours preceding the DOMA decision, SCOTUS wrote an ambiguous majority opinion on Affirmative Action, it cracked the legal foundation of Tribal Sovereignty and eviscerated the Voting Rights Act, the consequences of which are already in motion.

In times like this, where state and federal legislative attacks affect proliferate, we need to keep pushing our intersectional and long-term movement. Below is a video Southerners On New Ground (SONG) and I made as a love letter to the LGBTQ movement and our allies in response to the DOMA decision. We want to encourage the promise and commitment of love for each other as LGBTQ people, beyond any one issue or win.

SONG’S MISSION “SONG is a home for LGBTQ liberation across all lines of race, class, abilities, age, culture, gender, and sexuality in the South. We build, sustain, and connect a southern regional base of LBGTQ people in order to transform the region through strategic projects and campaigns developed in response to the current conditions in our communities. SONG builds this movement through leadership development, intersectional analysis, and organizing.” You can become a SONG member here. And please #marrythemovement.

The conference topic was chosen in the wake of Arab Spring and Occupy Wall Street and anticipating dialogue regarding interrelationships among women’s, gender, and sexuality studies and social change. Interest in the topic has been fueled anew by activism around the May 2012 passage of Amendment One to North Carolina’s Constitution (banning same-sex marriages and civil unions); the June 2012 silencing of two Michigan Congresswomen, one for using the word “vagina” in floor debates about an abortion bill; and the news that in Ciudad Juárez more women have been killed in 2012 than in any other year of the “femicide era”. We understand the ideas of outrage, protest, and social transformation quite broadly and encourage you to as well.

Quote

“All of Us NC moved me deeply and gave me an instructive tool to help social justice activists understand that progress comes in many legitimate forms. Watch it to learn how to squeeze the best results out of attack and loss.”
– Rinku Sen, Executive Director of the Applied Research Center and Publisher of Colorlines.com

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Contact

Sowjanya Kudva
sowj (at) sowjfilms (dot) com

I am a queer, South Asian filmmaker who believes that well-made, self-representative media is key to building powerful queer communities.

I would love to hear from you! Please feel free to contact me at sowj (at) sowjfilms (dot) com if you have questions, comments, or you want to bring this film to your community.